System and Method for Managing Conditional Access Blackout Events In A Video Data Distribution System

• US 20100125867A1
• Filed: 11/17/2008
• Published: 05/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chow, Lee M., Piepenbrink, David J., Sofos, James T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,245,263 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/28
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2585 Generation of a revocation list, e.g. of client devices involved in piracy acts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26609 using retrofitting techniques, e.g. by re-encrypting the control words used for pre-encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4623 Processing of entitlement messages, e.g. ECM [Entitlement Control Message] or EMM [Entitlement Management Message] arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services H04H60/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/835 Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

A computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a computer configure blackout event data indicating at least one event criterion data for selecting client devices subject to the blackout event for restricted content data; configure client devices into a client device group subject to the blackout event in accordance with the event criterion data; configure at least one substitution event data table for the client device group; and send restricted content and the substitution event data table embedded in the restricted content data to each client device in the client device group.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a computer configure blackout event data for a blackout event in a data distribution system, the computer program comprising instructions to configure at the data distribution system, blackout event data indicating at least one event criterion data for selecting client devices subject to the blackout event for restricted content data;

instructions to configure in a Blackout Management system at the data distribution system, client devices into a client device group subject to the blackout event in accordance with the event criterion data;

instructions to configure in the Blackout Management system at the data distribution system, at least one substitution event data table for the client device group; and

instructions to send from the Blackout Management system in the data distribution system, restricted content data and the substitution event data table embedded in the restricted content data to each client device in the client device group.

2. The medium of claim 1, the computer program further comprising instructions to Display graphical display data indicating a graphical representation of a set of blackout event status data;

and instructions to dynamically update the graphical display data indicating changed blackout event status data when a change occurs in the blackout event status data for the blackout event.

3. The medium of claim 2, wherein the blackout event status data is selected from the group of data consisting of start time data, end time data, event name data and restriction criterion data.

4. The medium of claim 3, the computer program further comprising instructions to display a graphical warning prior to the occurrence of a time in the blackout event status data selected from the group consisting of a start time and an end time.

5. The medium of claim 2, the computer program further comprising instructions to receive at the Blackout Management system, retune activity data from at least one of the client devices in the client device group and instructions to correlate at the Blackout Management system, the blackout event data with the retune activity data to verify the occurrence of the blackout event in the client devices.

6. The medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions to correlate further comprise instructions to compare time of day data for the retune activity data for the client devices in the client device group to time of day for the blackout event data to verify that the retune activity data coincides with the blackout event data.

7. The medium of claim 1, wherein in the computer program, the restricted data is restricted based on at least one criterion selected from the group consisting of geographic restriction criterion data and demographic restriction criterion data.

8. The medium of claim 1, wherein in the computer program, the restricted content data is selected from the group consisting of video data and audio data.

9. The medium of claim 1, wherein in the computer program, the blackout event table data indicates a retune location to which a client device retunes after initially tuning to a data feed containing the restricted data during the blackout event.

10. A computer readable medium containing computer program instructions data, the computer program comprising instructions embedded in the computer readable medium, that when executed by a computer, configure a blackout event at a client device, the computer program further comprising instructions to receive at the client device from a Blackout Management System, restricted content data and substitution event table data embedded in the restricted content data;

and

instructions to send over the second client processor interface to the Blackout Management System, client device retune activity data from the client device for correlating at the Blackout Management System, blackout event data with the retune activity data to verify the occurrence of the blackout event at the client device.

11. The medium of claim 10, the computer program further comprising instructions to retune at the client device to a retune location indicated in the substitution event table data after initially tuning at the client device to a data feed containing the restricted data during a blackout event.

12. The medium of claim 11, the computer program further comprising instructions to encode retune activity data with a code indicating that retune activity occurred as a result of the substitution event table data rather than a voluntary retune by a user at the client device.

13. A Blackout Management system for configuring blackout event data for a blackout event in a data distribution system, the system comprising:

A processor in data communication with a computer readable medium; and

A first processor interface for receiving blackout event data;

A second processor interface for receiving event criterion data;

A third processor interface for sending substitution event table data;

A computer program comprising instructions embedded in the computer readable medium, that when executed by a computer, configure blackout event data for a blackout event in a data distribution system, the computer program further comprising instructions to configure in the Blackout Management system, blackout event data indicating at least one blackout event criterion data for selecting client devices subject to the blackout event for restricted content data;

instructions to configure in the Blackout Management system, client devices into a client device group subject to the blackout event in accordance with the event criterion data;

instructions to configure in the Blackout Management system, at least one substitution event data table for the client device group; and

instructions to send from the Blackout Management system, restricted content data and the substitution event table data embedded in the restricted content data to each client device in the client device group.

14. The system of claim 13, the computer program further comprising instructions to display graphical display data indicating a graphical representation of a set of blackout event status data;

and instructions to dynamically update the graphical display data indicating data blackout event status data when a change occurs in the blackout event status data.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the blackout event status data is selected from the group of data consisting of start time data, end time data, event name data and restriction criterion data.

16. The system of claim 15, the computer program further comprising instructions to display a graphical warning prior to the occurrence of a time selected from the group consisting of a start time and an end time.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

A fourth processor interface for receiving retune activity data from at least one of the client devices in the client device group, the computer program further comprising instructions to correlate at the Blackout Management system, the blackout event data with the retune activity data to verify the occurrence of the blackout event in the client devices.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein in the computer program, the instructions to correlate further comprise instructions to compare time of day data for the retune activity data for the client devices in the client device group to time of day for the blackout event data to verify that the retune activity data coincides with the blackout event data.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein in the computer program, the restricted data is restricted based on at least one criterion selected from the group consisting of geographic restriction criterion data and demographic restriction criterion data.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein in the computer program, the restricted data is selected from the group consisting of video data and audio data.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein in the computer program, the blackout event table data indicates a retune location to which a client device retunes after initially tuning to a data feed containing the restricted data during the blackout event.

22. A client device for controlling access to restricted content data received at the client device for performing a blackout event at the client device in a data distribution system, the client device comprising:

A client processor in data communication with a computer readable medium;

A first client processor interface for receiving blackout event table data from a Blackout Management system;

A second client processor interface for sending retune data from the client device to the Blackout Management system; and

A computer program comprising instructions embedded in the computer readable medium, that when executed by a computer, configure a blackout event at the client device, the computer program further comprising instructions to receive at the client device from the Blackout Management System, restricted content data and substitution event table data embedded in the restricted content data; and

instructions to send over the second client processor interface to the Blackout Management System, client device retune activity data from the client device for correlating at the internet protocol television system, blackout event data with the retune activity data to verify the occurrence of the blackout event at the client device.

23. The client device of claim 22, the computer program further comprising instructions to retune at the client device to a retune location indicated in the substitution event table data after initially tuning at the client device to a data feed containing the restricted data during a blackout event.

24. The client device of claim 23, the computer program further comprising instructions to encode retune activity data with a code indicating that retune activity occurred as a result of the substitution event table data rather than a voluntary retune by a user at the client device.